The Mission of the Damned
by Jarl
Summary: The Last Great Time War rages from Skaro to Gallifrey. One vessel carries two soldiers on a mission to Skaro, but something has happened. Can rescue come in time, or is time all they have?


The TARDIS wheezed, the brassy clang of its cloister bell echoing through the winding, pristine corridors as it began to melt down. The purple focusing gems in the center of the console bathed the control room in soft light, regularly drowned out by the pulsing light of the firearms discharging in the corridor.

War had come to time.

With practiced speed, the Time Lord near the corridor kicked a metal toolbox backwards. It skidded and toppled down the smooth steel steps towards the center console, where it burst open on contact with the floor. A complex metallic tool tumbled out and slid along the floor into the waiting hand of a Time Lady, her pale, long fingers clasping around it tightly as she immediately pressed it into the guts of the disassembled console.

The sound echoing throughout the TARDIS was almost unbearable, a thousand voices screaming "Exterminate!" in staggered succession, blending together into a wall of horror regularly punctuated by the bold alert of the cloister bell. The TARDIS, her TARDIS, was dying.

"It's not going to work," The Rani said, putting the tool down flat on the floor. Time had been unkind to her, unkind to them all. Once, she'd been a feared and respected renegade Time Lord, master of all biology in the cosmos, but then the War changed everything. She'd been called to Gallifrey, forcibly regenerated, and thrown into the war against her will.

Her companion, her glorified parole officer, lowered his weapon and stepped back, slamming the door shut against the corridor. The sound of Dalek gunsticks still blared throughout the halls of the TARDIS, clearly audible even now. "It never works," he said, walking carefully down the stairs towards her. He always walked very carefully down those stairs now, ever since the accident.

"Next time, I'm going to try and see if I can fix the Extrapolator to maybe fire me backwards in time," the Rani said, tapping her fingers on her teeth in thought, "Might buy us a few more seconds."

"Is such a thing even possible?" Maxil asked, stepping up to the opened console.

"I have no idea, I'm mostly just saying words at this point," she responded, leaning back on the console and looking up at her companion. He wasn't much for critical thought or mechanical prowess, but he had tight aim and a quick trigger finger, which was by far the most important thing in this situation. It was just a shame about his face.

"See you on the other side, then?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the universe."

The cloister bell rang one last time and the focusing gems in the center of the console began to flicker all manner of uneasy colors.

* * *

The TARDIS wheezed, the brassy clang of its cloister bell echoing through the winding, pristine corridors as it began to melt down. The purple focusing gems in the center of the console bathed the control room in soft light, regularly drowned out by the pulsing light of the firearms discharging in the corridor.

With practiced speed, Maxil kicked the metal toolbox near his foot backwards. He'd gotten very, very good at aiming it without looking. It began to clang down the steps according to the usual rhythm, confirming his skill as he stepped into the TARDIS corridor. Ahead, a pair of brass-skinned Daleks began to turn their gun sticks towards him, but the positron pulse rifle gave a gentle kick to his shoulder as he fired it right through each eyestalk. The two Daleks were followed by three more, he knew, one of which would aim for the door controls to lock him in with them. He knew this because they always did it that way.

He fired again as that Dalek rounded the corner, hitting it in the gunstick. With three Daleks disabled and two more trapped in between, the quintet would easily be trapped in the corridor for the remainder of the loop. He stepped back out of the corridor and slapped the door controls, locking it shut. He turned and looked down at the console, where his partner in madness stood over a ripped open console, working quickly on a large silver plate covered in wires. He walked down the steps slowly, always careful to avoid another accident.

The accident...

It had been long ago, so, so long. How long, he couldn't be sure, as the TARDIS around them screamed horrifically every second, somewhat clouding the senses. His sense of time had always been a bit weak, but it had to have been... say... three years ago? How many cycles would that have been? They'd barely been in the loop for a few dozen cycles, maybe two hours' worth. They still had hope. Something had happened to the TARDIS, something he didn't properly understand, and now they were trapped in a time loop as it was on the verge of detonation.

So long ago, he'd slammed the corridor shut, stumbling back away from the Daleks, still unsure of their exact number and position. He had spun and sprinted down the stairs, eager to help the Rani with her project. His feet had slipped on the stairs and he'd gone tumbling down them, barely managing to let out a yell of terror before his head cracked hard against the console, the full weight of his body snapping his neck. He lay on the floor right at the Rani's feet, staring up at her with blinking, dull eyes as his body began to crawl with atron energy.

She'd stumbled back away from him in horror, her eyes locked on his unnaturally angled head. "Oh... Maxil..." she'd mumbled, before shielding her eyes against the explosion of energy as he regenerated.

He'd had only a few seconds of post-regeneration fugue, not even long enough to see his own reflection, before the loop ended and he was once again at the corridor, shooting at Daleks. Later, he'd asked the Rani what he had looked like and she seemed noncommittal about it, comparing him to a face she once saw on a distant planet, all dark eyes and wrinkled forehead.

That was then, of course, and this was now. But then, now was then as much as now was now, and then was now as much as then was then, and always would be. Time travel was bad enough when you could control it, but when the tables were turned and time moved around you, it would encircle and envelop you, constricting the life and mind out of you.

The Rani looked up as he stepped next to her. "Hold this here," she said, placing his hand on the silvery plate under them. He looked up at her as she did, taking in her figure for the first time in a while. Sometimes, he liked to imagine they were getting older. It was tempting to pretend there were little lines around her eyes, to picture the fading of the red dye she used in her hair into the natural black the Time Lords had cursed her with. Red dye was the only rebellion she'd had left after being drafted and saddled with him, and he'd let her indulge in it freely as long as she behaved.

She looked up at him, dark eyes darting over his features. "I think this might be the right path," she said, holding his hand on the extrapolator, "But it's going to take too long if you shoot the Daleks first. Next time, try closing the door, I'll see if I can deadlock it and kee-"

The cloister bell rang one last time and the focusing gems in the center of the console began to flicker all manner of uneasy colors.

* * *

The TARDIS wheezed, the brassy clang of its cloister bell echoing through the winding, pristine corridors as it began to melt down. The purple focusing gems in the center of the console bathed the control room in soft light, regularly drowned out by the pulsing light of the firearms discharging in the corridor.

"-eep my ha- no! Down here!" she yelled. Her companion reacted, slamming the corridor door shut and heading down the stairs carefully. He always followed orders so well, she found, a perfect little tin soldier. She managed to yank the Extrapolator free just as he reached the console, and he dutifully grabbed it and held the wire where she'd shown him.

She reached for the laser spanner absentmindedly and felt nothing but air. She squeezed her eyes shut in disgust with herself. Of course, the laser spanner was still in the toolbox up by where Maxil had been, and he'd forgotten to kick it down to her. She looked up at him, disgust still flaring in her dark eyes. He looked down at her, first in confusion and then recognition, glancing up the stairs to where he'd left the tools. He rolled his eyes and lowered his head in shame.

Regeneration had changed the Rani (as it tends to). Her attitude towards basic ethics was a tiny bit less flexible than it had been before, and her views of the sanctity of life had been somewhat bolstered. Having a reason to research, a goal for her studies, these had been valuable to her, she decided. If she had to be honest with herself, her demeanor had been improving. Improving, that is, until she found herself locked up in this time loop with Maxil. Not just because he was her guard in both meanings of the word, but because of his face.

It wasn't his fault, she knew, he hadn't given the Doctor permission to take it, but there it was. Maxil looked like the Doctor, like the man who'd humiliated her and locked her in this very TARDIS with a Tyrannosaurus Rex. And now here he was, never more than a few meters away from her for the past... how long had it been? How long could it have possibly been? Five years? Ten? Thirty? Her time senses were clouded by the TARDIS dying around them, and she'd lost count of the actual number of cycles after the first five thousand.

All this time, spent in close proximity to someone who looked just like the Doctor was like being caged up with that dinosaur all over again. At least it was the tall one, with the curly blond hair. She hated even thinking of it, but the alternatives were even worse. There had been a time, once, when Maxil had fallen onto the console and broken his neck, and for a fleeting moment after his regeneration, she almost thought he had become the hated successor, the buffoon with a mind like fanciful clockwork. It was a thought born of madness, she was certain, but thankfully short-lived as the TARDIS exploded only seconds later.

That was rare, a reason to be thankful for the loop. A life in thirty feet and ninety seconds was hardly a life at all.

Several hundred thousand cycles ago, she'd tried turning off the failsafe. The failsafe was the thing keeping them alive, a helpful trick the Time Lords had developed to keep the crews of crashing TARDISes alive. The last few minutes of the TARDIS's internal timestream would be put onto a loop, constantly replaying the moments before destruction until a repair or rescue could be affected. Neither would be coming, the Rani was sure, because nobody but the high council knew of their current mission, and they were certainly expendable in the high council's eyes.

"It's alright," Maxil said, always sure of himself. The Rani looked up at him, examining his stern features, "I'll get the box on the next-"

Before he could finish the sentence, the corridor door burst open, metal and plastic showering the console room. Two Daleks immediately sped into the room, gunsticks ablaze. There was a round of screams of "Exterminate", followed by the roar of Dalek gunfire, and two Time Lord bodies hit the floor.

The cloister bell rang one last time and the focusing gems in the center of the console began to flicker all manner of uneasy colors.

* * *

The TARDIS wheezed, the brassy clang of its cloister bell echoing through the winding, pristine corridors as it began to melt down. The purple focusing gems in the center of the console bathed the control room in soft light, regularly drowned out by the pulsing light of the firearms discharging in the corridor.

Maxil slammed the corridor door shut, blasting the controls for catharsis. He turned, stooping to pick up the metal toolbox mid-stride towards the stairs. There was a job to do, and Maxil prided himself on his ability to follow through despite adverse circumstances. But then, as he made it to the top of the stairs, here was a noise, one he'd not heard before. There was a flash of light near the console, something new was happening. He stopped short, stumbling over his own feet in shock, stumbling down the stairs.

"Whoa! I've got you!" a new voice said. The new person moved forward to grab Maxil as he fell down towards the console and held him tight, both landing safely at the bottom of the steps.

The Rani spun around, glaring at the newcomer. There were five explanations that instantly came to mind, and the likeliest two were that she'd finally lost her mind completely and was having a psychotic episode, or that someone had come to rescue them. Pouring all her heart into the latter, she stooped and helped Maxil up off their guest, and without any offer of support or help barked "Who are you?! Help us!"

In her defense, they'd been cooped up here for a while.

"Hell's fire, is that how you greet a classmate?" the stranger responded testily, rubbing his shoulder where it had slammed into the floor. Maxil offered a hand, which the stranger gladly took. "Thankfully, someone here's still got some manners left in them."

The Rani cocked her head, gazing into the stranger. He had dark, heavily lidded eyes, and long black hair. He was dressed in some manner of naval uniform, dark blue coat over a burnt and coarse tunic, with tall leather boots on his feet and a bandolier over his shoulder. He looked youthful, but spoke with the gravelly edge of a grandfather who'd outlived his grandchildren. That wasn't an overly flowery metaphor, either, the Rani could see through this man's new face and recognize the Time Lord inside him.

Maxil's eyes narrowed in recognition as well. "Wait a minute... is that you? Doctor! Whose face have you stolen now?" he asked accusingly.

The stranger dusted himself off, a gesture that frankly neither Maxil nor the Rani had the time to waste on anymore. "Oh for heaven's sake, drop it Maxil. I was dying of spectrox toxaemia, I had neither the faculty nor the desire to intentionally take on your visage, it was a spur of the moment thing, completely out of my control."

"Out of control?" Maxil laughed, a harsh bark against the din of Dalek gunfire, "Out of control is being the laughing stock of the Panopticon because you share a face with the deposed president currently on trial for genocide!"

The stranger straightened his lapels, bristling as he did. "Those charges were all dropped, I can assure you. And as for my face," he said, looking at the Rani, "You can thank your partner in crime here for getting rid of it for me."

"Doctor, there's no time for banter! You have to help us, we-"

The cloister bell rang one last time and the focusing gems in the center of the console began to flicker all manner of uneasy colors.

* * *

The TARDIS wheezed, the brassy clang of its cloister bell echoing through the winding, pristine corridors as it began to melt down. The purple focusing gems in the center of the console bathed the control room in soft light, regularly drowned out by the pulsing light of the firearms discharging in the corridor.

"-need to get out of here!" the Rani shouted into the partially disassembled console. She turned away, looking around. He was gone.

Maxil came rushing down the stairs, carefully clicking his feet flat against each step as he did. "Where did he go?!" he yelled, looking around the control room.

"Good! He was here!" she said aloud, having lost her vocal filter a few thousand cycles in.

"What do you mean? Did you think he hadn't been?" Maxil asked, glaring at her accusingly.

"Honestly? I thought we'd both gone completely insane," she replied.

"It wouldn't be a long journey for you," the stranger said, reappearing from under the console. "What have you done to this thing?"

Without warning, the Rani immediately spun and clapped both hands on his shoulders. His eyes widened in surprised as she tugged him towards her. "Don't go, don't leave us," she demanded, "Take us with you, kill us, whatever you do, Doctor, don't leave us here like this!"

He opened his mouth to respond, then glanced quickly over the Rani's shoulder, eyes widening. "Watch out!" he yelled, grabbing her as well and yanking her to the floor.

Maxil turned towards the steps where the five Daleks were now pouring through the open door. He fired from the hip, catching one Dalek and shredding it to pieces, but the remaining Daleks had no trouble exterminating him, blasting the Time Lord back against the console.

The Rani rolled away, clinging to her school-rival-turned-fellow-renegade-turned-comrade-in-arms and taking him with her. "Head down, keep your head down!" she warned him, the Daleks pelting the console with their gunfire.

"I can do better," he responded, the console over them sparking as it began to short circuit and melt under the Dalek's attack, "I can help fix this."

"Doctor," the Rani said, tightening her grip on his shoulders, "Don't! Maxil's going to regenerate!"

Already the change had begun, a golden glow spreading across Maxil's still form. Artron energy began to collect around his eyes and hands, rejuvenating his every cell. The Rani shielded her eyes as Maxil's corpse exploded in a shower of brilliant gold.

"Did you say 'kill us'?" Maxil said in a new, deeper and less refined voice, glaring at the Rani with large, dark eyes. He had short dark hair, almost bald, with enormous ears and a prominent brow. "The situation's bad enough without you trying to get us killed. Keeled. Called. Culled. Killed," he mumbled, working his jaw and trying to adjust to his new accent and voice.

"Nobody's getting killed, this is a rescue mission," their savior responded, "Now the first thing that needs to happen is that you-"

The cloister bell rang one last time and the focusing gems in the center of the console began to flicker all manner of uneasy colors.

* * *

The TARDIS wheezed, the brassy clang of its cloister bell echoing through the winding, pristine corridors as it began to melt down. The purple focusing gems in the center of the console bathed the control room in soft light, regularly drowned out by the pulsing light of the firearms discharging in the corridor.

The Rani spun around from her TARDIS's open console, catching the toolbox as Maxil kicked it back towards her. She had hope for the first time in what felt like years, her flagging spirits were once again revitalized. She was a biologist by specialty, only knowing enough about temporal mechanics to get by, but that had been the Doctor's best field at the academy. For the first time, she felt like things could really work out.

"This is hardly enough time," the rescuer said, stepping out of a flickering flash of light, "So the first thing that needs to happen is to widen the loop. It should be about twice as long, what happened?"

"I had to switch off the fail-safe in order to close the Eye of Harmony," the Rani replied, opening the console panels, "The last thing we need is one exploding TARDIS destroying the whole universe."

"Good thinking," he said, drawing out his sonic screwdriver and running it over the console's innards.

Maxil slammed the door closed on the corridor, heading down the stairs at a slow, reasonable pace. "Doctor, take us with you," he ordered, "The same way you got in here, just teleport us back out."

"Nice to see you back in the blond, Maxil," the young man replied, his hand buried up to the shoulder in the console as he adjusted some timing mechanism, "But I can't, you're caught up in the time loop now."

"But what does that mean, Doctor?"

"He means if he takes us out, we'll be pulled back in when the loop starts over," the Rani interjected, "Just like he gets kicked out whenever it starts over."

"That's insane! What kind of rescue mechanism is that?"

"Apparently not a good one!" she shouted back, rubbing her temple. "Doctor, is it going to work?"

"Well, I think I found the timing circuits, it might buy you about ten, fifteen more se-"

The cloister bell rang one last time and the focusing gems in the center of the console began to flicker all manner of uneasy colors.

* * *

The cloister bell rang out, fresh and loud. Throughout the ship, shrill metallic Dalek voices announced their presence. The door leading from the TARDIS engine room burst open into the corridor as the Daleks began their advance on the console room.

Maxil was in the corridor, two Daleks before him. This was earlier, he knew it, it had to be. How long ago had he been standing here? Ten to fifteen seconds, apparently.

He stepped back, firing at the closest Dalek and disabling it. He then turned and ran down the TARDIS corridors towards the control room, slamming the door shut as he ran through it. Below, the Rani was already being assisted by the Time Lord who stole his face, the two of them analyzing the console.

"It looks like the temporal chronomatrix has been damaged," their rescuer said, leaning back from the console and looking at it askew.

"Probably when the Daleks blew up the engines," the Rani responded, pulling open a control panel and exposing a forest of wires.

"I think if I could install a fresh one, I'd be able to break the loop, maybe just a bit," he said, cutting the damaged component free with his screwdriver.

The TARDIS wheezed, the brassy clang of its cloister bell echoing through the winding, pristine corridors as it began to melt down. The purple focusing gems in the center of the console bathed the control room in soft light, regularly drowned out by the pulsing light of the firearms discharging in the corridor.

"Would a fresh one survive the loop?" Maxil asked, unfamiliar with the jargon being tossed back and forth.

The other man tilted his head, cocking his shoulders in a vague shrug, "It's the best I can do. I've gotten in the habit of carrying a spare on my TARDIS, ever since that business with the atomic clock."

With a crash, the door to the corridor burst open, the first pair of Daleks rushing into the control room. Maxil immediately spun on his heel and shot the one who'd killed him before, catching it in the eyestalk. He then dropped to a prone position and fired at the other one, shredding its weapons easily, leaving the two screaming Daleks squirming in place in the middle of the doorway.

"You're really good at that," their rescuer said, shoulder deep in the guts of the console.

"I've had a lot of practice. Now, get that thing you were talking about and get us out of here!" Maxil yelled, firing up the steps at the third Dalek, trying to shoulder its way past its disabled comrades.

The Rani looked at the new man. His eyes were closed now as he was feeling around inside the TARDIS's controls. "Doctor, don't you usually have a companion with you? Whatever happened to that red haired girl, what was her name..."

"Mel," he responded, glaring up at the Rani, "And she left. They all left. The man you knew is no more, Rani, just as you're no longer the woman I knew."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Sure, I'm different now, a little more willing to listen to the word 'no', but that's not because of any change in who I am underneath." She smiled, looking around the control room, "It's a different universe now, Doctor, I'd always thought it broken and in need of fixing, but now I see what a broken universe really is."

He looked up at her, not blinking or breaking eye contact. She narrowed her eyes, he was starting to make her uncomfortable. "Doctor, what is it?"

"Nothing, it's just... I didn't realize how different you are now. The Rani I knew would never admit she'd been wrong."

The Rani rested her hands on the console, looking intently at the focusing crystal. "War changes people, Doctor."

He closed his eyes and shook his head, "You don't have to tell me about it."

The cloister bell rang one last time and the focusing gems in the center of the console began to flicker all manner of uneasy colors.

* * *

The cloister bell rang out, fresh and loud. Throughout the ship, shrill metallic Dalek voices announced their presence. The door leading from the TARDIS engine room burst open into the corridor as the Daleks began their advance on the console room.

The Rani frantically began tearing open the console with her bare hands, looking for the temporal chronomatrix. Behind her, she heard the gunfire as Maxil held off the Daleks. She wasn't willing to let this situation go on any longer than it had to. Now she just needed...

There was a slam of pressure from the corridor as one of the Daleks exploded, sending Maxil flying out into the console room. He landed with a heavy thud on the floor, firing wildly into the corridor as he did. One shot hit the door controls, shutting it firmly.

This was it, the Rani could feel it. All she needed was the Doctor and they'd both be free. All this time spent in the loop, she would do anything to see the sky again. "Come on, Doctor, where are you..." she muttered anxiously.

"Don't plead," came his voice, right next to her. She jumped, giving him a furious look. "I don't like the thought of people praying to me," he continued, laying a hunk of equipment on the console and plunging his hand into the open guts behind the control panel.

"What can I do? I still know a thing or two about chronometric circuitry, and I-"

"Nothing, I can't bear any distractions," he responded sharply, pulling the damaged component out.

The Rani opened her mouth, then shut it again when she had nothing to say. She could gab his big dumb ears off about rudeness later, after he saved her existence. She turned and looked up to Maxil, who was descending the stairs once more.

The TARDIS wheezed, the brassy clang of its cloister bell echoing through the winding, pristine corridors as it began to melt down. The purple focusing gems in the center of the console bathed the control room in soft light, regularly drowned out by the pulsing light of the firearms discharging in the corridor.

"I just... I need something, I need... I need something to charge up the new circuit with artron energy," he eventually said, looking up at the Rani and Maxil, "It needs a fresh charge or it will never work."

"Oh, is that all?" Maxil responded tersely, lifting the barrel of his rifle to his chin, "I can get you that energy."

"Maxil! Don't!" the Rani yelled, grasping the barrel, "There has to be another way."

The other man put his hand atop the Rani's, "He's right, this is the quickest way. You've still got regenerations ahead of you, don't you?"

"Yes, and you keep your hands off them, Doctor," Maxil said, before grinning and pulling the trigger.

Both Time Lords stepped back as Maxil's corpse fell onto the console, golden energy spreading over his body. The two of them watched in silence as he began to regenerate, heat and energy rising off his body as his features began to shift.

"Oh... wait," the mechanically minded Time Lord said, thumping his forehead, "I could have just jump started it with the old one." He turned to the Rani, "Don't tell him, would you? He might shoot me."

The Rani didn't care, she'd grown hungry for this. Escape. It was happening, right now in front of them. The roar of Maxil's regeneration ceased and he rolled off the console, his new form being somewhat less firm and lanky than the prior. The two Time Lords helped him to his feet, hazel eyes and thick eyebrows split by an enormously sharp nose peering out at them from under long black hair. "Did it work?" he asked in a daze, his new voice deep and nasal.

The trio turned and looked at the console, the central focusing crystal pistoning up and down now in perfect rhythm. The cloister bell continued to ring out. Drawing his sonic screwdriver, their mechanic ran it over the console, examining it quickly. "I think it's going to work. Rani, get the door," he said, then turned to her, "And make sure to grab the burnt out chronomatrix, we don't want the Daleks getting their hands on it."

With Maxil supported on one shoulder, he walked quickly to the door. The Rani operated the door control, letting the two of them out into the radioactive night sky of Skaro. Finally, they were here, she thought, finally able to finish this damned mission. She picked up the broken component, idly wondering what the Daleks would want with a burnt up chronomatrix when they were trapped inside an exploding Tardis.

Then the door slammed shut.

The Rani turned, her eyes wild, and began operating the door controls. It had to be another short, something had gone wrong.

"Rani, it's okay, there's no fault," came the gravelly voice once more. She looked up to the scanner, into the Doctor's tired, heavy eyes. For the first time, she realized how old they looked, even on his young face. "I deadlocked the door."

"You... what?!" she shouted, slamming the broken chronomatrix on the console, glaring up at him. "I thought this was a rescue operation!"

"It is," he said, looking sadly at her. "I'm here to save the universe. I know why the Time Lords sent you here, what they wanted you to make and release here. The Omni-Virus."

"Doctor, please! This is no time for moralizing! It's the only way to save Gallifrey!" she shouted, staring at him in abject horror.

"I'm not here to save Gallifrey," he responded coldly, "I told you. I'm here to save the universe. How many more of these super-bugs will you cook up for the Time Lords? I know about the plans. The Omni-Virus, the Mutant Phase, the Plague That Walks. No more. I can't let you go."

She shook her head, grasping her temple, "Doctor, I told you, I'm not that person anymore. I wouldn't do that!"

"Maybe not, but how permanent is this Rani? Because the Rani I met on Lakertya, the one who terrorized Killingsworth, the one who chased me around the east end, she would."

The Rani wrinkled her forehead, narrowing her eyes and tilting her head. "The east end?"

"Right, sorry, that was a dream I had. Nevermind. You may not be that person anymore, but you could be."

"Doctor," she said, glancing at the TARDIS console, "It's about to explode again. You can't leave me locked in this loop, you never would!"

He glared at her, the lines on his young face seeming to deepen as he did. "I'm sorry, but I already told you. The man you knew is no more. Goodbye, Rani." He lifted his sonic screwdriver and the scanner flicked off.

The cloister bell was loud now, filling the air around the Rani. The console was giving off a bone-rattling hum.

"Doctor? Doctor!" The Rani slammed her fist on the scanner controls, the door controls, trying anything. They were completely deadlocked.

The cloister bell rang one last time and the focusing gems in the center of the console began to flicker all manner of uneasy colors.

* * *

Maxil staggered to his feet, his positron pulse rifle hitched over his shoulder. "Doctor! Doctor! What- why did you leave her in there?"

The man turned to him. Behind him, the Rani's disguised TARDIS began to burn up, the Thal tank's facade crumbling into superheated ash. "When you get back home," he said, "You can tell them the truth of what happened here."

The man, the stranger, walked away. Maxil stood in shock, staring at the remains of the Rani's TARDIS as they fluttered away in the breeze. "You... you killed her. You monster, she's dead!" He turned and raised his rifle at the man who'd just rescued him, only to watch him step through the doors of his scorched blue TARDIS.

The man turned and faced Maxil, hand on the door handle. "A War TARDIS is going to be here soon, they'll expect the Rani to have already released the Omni-Virus. They'll pick you up."

Maxil kept his rifle trained on the stranger, his eyes burning with confusion and fury. "Just tell me this, before I kill you, is she dead?"

The man gazed coldly at Maxil. "Yes."

Maxil inhaled sharply, his hands frozen. In his moment of hesitation, the other man closed the door to his TARDIS. With a wheezing groan, it began to dematerialize. Maxil lowered his rifle, turning to look at the remains of his charge and former prison. He worked his jaw silently, looking down at the dispersing cloud of ash. Right now, a storm of emotion was burning in his head. Hatred towards the man who once had been the Doctor. Fear of potentially being trapped on Skaro. Regret over being unable to save the Rani. But, somewhere, buried deep inside, there was one small iota of joy. He held onto that, one tiny candle of joy, that at least she'd been released from the time loop, one way or another. He'd guarded her and held guard over her, his charge and his prisoner, but at least she was free now.

* * *

The cloister bell was loud now, filling the air around the Rani. The console was giving off a bone-rattling hum.

The Rani reached down and grabbed the laser spanner off the floor. Maybe if she cut the new chronomatrix out, she could stop this.

The cloister bell rang one last time and the focusing gems in the center of the console began to flicker all manner of uneasy colors.

* * *

The cloister bell was loud now, filling the air around the Rani. The console was giving off a bone-rattling hum.

She dropped to her knees as fast as she could, reaching for the laser spanner. With one deft motion, she swung it up to the console's underside. Maybe if she tried from below she'd have enough time.

The cloister bell rang one last time and the focusing gems in the center of the console began to flicker all manner of uneasy colors.

* * *

The cloister bell was loud now, filling the air around the Rani. The console was giving off a bone-rattling hum.

The Rani lowered her head, looking down at the console. There was no time, none left in the entire TARDIS. The Doctor had killed her.

The cloister bell rang one last time and the focusing gems in the center of the console began to flicker all manner of uneasy colors.

* * *

The cloister bell was loud now, filling the air around the Rani. The console was giving off a bone-rattling hum.

But he wasn't the Doctor anymore. That's what he'd said. The Doctor would have rescued her, and even if he hadn't, he wouldn't have killed her like this.

The cloister bell rang one last time and the focusing gems in the center of the console began to flicker all manner of uneasy colors.

* * *

The cloister bell was loud now, filling the air around the Rani. The console was giving off a bone-rattling hum.

The Doctor would have let the TARDIS explode around her. The Doctor would have let the Daleks exterminate her. The Doctor would have left a metaphorical pistol for her.

The cloister bell rang one last time and the focusing gems in the center of the console began to flicker all manner of uneasy colors.

* * *

The cloister bell was loud now, filling the air around the Rani. The console was giving off a bone-rattling hum.

This new man was emptied out. He was a complete stranger to her. He'd killed her the worst way anybody could.

The cloister bell rang one last time and the focusing gems in the center of the console began to flicker all manner of uneasy colors.

* * *

The cloister bell was loud now, filling the air around the Rani. The console was giving off a bone-rattling hum.

He let her live forever.

The cloister bell rang one last time and the focusing gems in the center of the console began to flicker all manner of uneasy colors.


End file.
